Contact Group reps meet in Astana on Tuesday

KABUL will meet in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Tuesday, an official said on Sunday.

Without naming the participating countries, the foreign minister spokesman, Janan Musazai, told a news conference in Kabul that the meeting would be co-chaired by Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul and Germany’s special representative for Afghanistan.

The meeting is aimed at discussing the agenda for the second Bonn summit and Afghanistan’s development.

Set up two years ago, the International Contact Group has 50 member countries, Musazai said, adding issues concerning the security transition, long-term relations of Afghanistan with the international community, regional cooperation and peace talks with the rebels would also come under discussion at the Astana meeting.

The first Bonn Conference was held soon after the fall of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in 2001. The conference approved the establishment of an interim set up in Afghanistan and the conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections.

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